How a Light Helped a Mother and her Baby Boy Sleep Better

How a Light Helped a Mother and her Baby Boy Sleep Better

In this TIME Magazine feature, sleep deprived mother Leemor Rhodes, explains how her adventures in parenting inspired her to look to bedroom lighting to help her son get better sleep.

Like many mothers looking for baby sleep aids, Leemor had begun hearing whispers from the internet that she should try different lighting in her nursery.

“After the birth of her son Adi in June, Rhodes first tried a generic red lightbulb based on a friend’s recommendation, which she says caused her to be disoriented and ‘camouflaged the poop.’ She then switched to an app-controlled LED smart bulb, but she found that product difficult to adjust at times. Finally, a publicist friend who works with Lighting Science Corporation gave her one of the company’s many lighting products: the Sleep Baby LED light bulb.”

Getting more sleep for herself and her baby can be as easy as screwing in a light bulb, right? She didn’t think so either, but she tried it out during her nighttime feedings and changings and began to see it work.

“It soothes him, it creates a very calm environment — it’s very easy to put the baby back down,” she said.

Blue light, which is commonly emitted from the majority of bulbs, prevents your body from producing the sleep hormone melatonin. The Sleepy Baby Nursery Light filters out blue light.

Lighting Science began looking at the intersection of lighting and biology, while doing research for the Nasa space station, to see how astronauts deal with sleep in space. We found that lighting can affect the way people sleep at night and how they are awake and alert during the day. Since then, Lighting Science founder Fred Maxik, has sought ways to evolve lighting in homes so that it properly syncs with our bodies.

“At the end of the day, we’re trying to invent a new future for ourselves,” said Maxik. “And we can utilize light in a way we’ve never expected.”

At Lighting Science, we believe lighting should work with our bodies and the environment, not against them. That’s why our LED lights are engineered to do more than simply light up spaces. They can actually help you sleep. Or keep you focused. They can even protect endangered wildlife. And they do it all while saving energy, costing less, and looking great.